St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-11-20
AVENGINC MURDERS.
Instruments Of Death Pro-
vided by Law in the Va
rioUs Countries.
Some of the Horrible Punish
ments in Vogue in the
Dark Ages.
The Garrote, Guillotine, Pill
lory, Scaffold, Electric
Chair and the Wheel.
A Reformation in Administer
ing Capital Punishment
to Criminals.

'\\>>~XN>IzY men have exercised so
%E/.seH much ingenuity as that
SE# of inventing methods
of tOrturing, so as 10
give themselves the satisfaction of see
ing their fellow men suffer the most
horrible pains and agonieS, says the Gin
cinnati Enquirer.
The first murderer, Cain, escaped the
gallOws, but brand was put upon his
forehead so that he was stunned of
men. AS the earth became denSely
populated punishmentS were found nee
eSSary for the vicious and evil-minded,
and Moses, the law-giver, lays down the
law of an eye for an eye.
A TOOTH FOR \ TOOTH,
rs well as the famous passage. "WhO so
sheds mans blOOd,' which the advO-
Gates of capital punishment have always
relied upon as Indicating both the eS-
sence of the law and spirit of the Mosaic
code upon the subject. The punish
mentS of the Greeks were not as severe
as those of the Romans. Socrates drank
the fatal hemlOck and died without
pain, but the Romans, who were fond of
gladiatOrial cOmbatS, who reveled III the
sight of human blood, desired methods
of torture and deaths that were
brutal and horrible. Some criminals
were pushed from the Tarpeian
rock, and parricideS were Sewed up in
leather sack and thrown into the sea
with a live cock, viper, dog and
monkey. The CarthagenianS were not
far behind the Romans in the cruelty of
their puniShmentS. Capturing Regu-
lus. the Roman general. they sent him
to Rome to negotiate treaty Of peace,
and when he was unable to accomplish
it put him in caSk driven full of
spikes and rolled him down hill. There
was a certain degree of romance that
characterized the puniStimentS of an
tiquity, and it is only when studying the
chronicles of the middle ages that the
refinement of cruelty in the way of eX-
ecutiOn is reached. There were thir-
teen ways of
CARRYING OUT EXECUTIONS,
gccOrding to an eminent French writer
on criminal cases-fire, the sword, me
chanical force, quartz ring, the wheel,
Che fork, the gibbet. drawing, Splklng.
cutting off the ears, Remembering. fog
ging or beating and the pillOry. When
q criminal had been condemned to be
burned a stake was driven on the spot
designated for the execution, and around
it pile was prepared composed OF al
terpate layers of straw aud wood about
the height of man. A free space was
3eft around the stake for the victim and
a passage to lead to it. His clothes
were taken off. and he was dressed in a
shirt Smeared with sulphur. He
walked through the narrow open
with ropes and chains, and the empty
space through which he passed being
covered up with faggOtS, the pile was
Sired on all sides at once. Sometimes the
victims were strangled and their bodies
burned, but the punishment had none OF
the terTOrS of burning alive. The Span
ish inQuisitiOn made constant use of the
method of burning, which was styled
auto da fe.
IT WAS THE PUNISHMENT
for heresy or basphemy. This was the
death that Joan of Are, the Maid OF
Orleans. met.
Decapitation was another favOrite
method of executing capital punish
ment. Sometimes it was performed
with an ak, but in France twO-handed
sword. mace expressly for the purpose,
was used. Originally this punishment
was indScriminately melted out to all
criminals, but at later period 1t was
monopolized as the especial privilege of
the nobility, without the slightest feel
ing of degradation. Sometimes the
victim was blindfOlded. He knelt down
on the ScaffOld, placed his head on the
block, and the skill of the eXecutiOner
was generally so great that the
head was Invariably severed
from the body at the first
blow. Instances are on record, how
ever, where the sword broke, and where
eleven blows were necessary before the
head was completely off. 1t was prob
ably this bungling method of decapita-
ton that led to the invention of the
guillOtine by physician of that name.
Quartering was perhaps the most hOr-
rible method invented of putting people
% death. In modern times it was rarely
inflicted except upon regicideS, who
were looked upon as having committed
the worst of crimes. Generally the vie
tim underwent previous fortunes, such
as having his right hand cut off and the
mutilated stump
BURNED IN A HOT CALDRON
of sulpher. Sometimes his arms, thighs
81 breasts were lacerated with red-hOt
pincerS, and hot oil, pitch or molten
lead put into the wounds. After these
delightful preliminarieS rope was at
tached to each of the limbs of the crimi-
nal, one being bound round each leg
from the foot to the knee, and round
each arm from the wrist to the elbow.
The ropes were then fastened to four
bars, to each of which strong horse
SaS harneSSed. At first the horses gave
short jerks. and, when the agony had
elected heartrending cries from the UNI
fortunate victim. whose limbs We're dis